Tag / streets

The long overdue pictures from Bangkok is here, the Black and White series anyway. I still have some architectural photos (mainly temples) yet to be processed, and of course that juicy story from red light district and the other food hunts around the city. But anyway, here is my very small contribution to the world of photography.

I was walking around taking photographs, and suddenly this ice cream seller started performing for me. He scoop up the ice cream, threw it up about 20 feet and drop it on the cup. This was his victory pose after performing his trick. It was a shame I did not manage to capture that in action, but at least we have this pose.

taxi stand

Tuk-tuk, the three wheeler “taxis” are omnipresence everywhere in the city. You can catch a short ride for as low as 20 baht. However, do be careful as some of them do conspire with shops in an attempt to con unsuspecting customers. The normal taxis, on the other hand, are very reliable and honest in Bangkok.

the line up

This photo is taken at the famous 4 faced Buddha statue (Thao Maha Brahma). It is said that many Hong Kong celebrities pay their respect at this place yearly.

the crowd, chatuchak weekend market

Chatuchak weekend market is a congregation of over 6000 stalls selling anything from bacon stick to foot massages to pet rabbits. The place is packed with bargain hunters and clueless tourists alike.

divers at chow praya river

These kids at chow praya river make a living by fetching and reselling animals released to the river. Here they are just warming up to start the day. It is a common practice for pilgrims to release animals to the wild. (for good karma?)

ringtone

A baby girl guided by her father to ring the bell at the temple, probably for the first time in her life.

guards – emerald Buddha temple

The guards at Emerald Buddha temple reminds me of those Buckingham Palace guards. They were completely stationary with only movements on their eyeballs. Respect.

fat boy supper

Day or night, you can find hawker stalls by every roadside. Bangkok is the city very favorable to food hunters like me, I just wish I had a bigger stomach.

I was at KLCC during the PC Fair weekend. Instead of fighting with the crowd shooting those Tech Girls indoor, we went to the main entrance of KLCC to do some streets photography. It was just after rain and the sky was still gloomy. I thought since there lighting condition wasn’t suited for the more conventional streets photography, I’d do something different instead.

So here you go, a series of shoes @ KLCC. It is interesting how much two legs and a pair of shoes can tell now isn’t it?

Rough Rider

Establishment

The Angle

Relaxation

Casual

A Conversation

Tired

Slanted

Decisions, Decisions

Zebra

Chilling

Domination

Flirty

Authority

By the way, there will be more postings on Bangkok trip shortly. Stay tuned!

The streets of Bangkok is dotted with many hawkers selling all sorts of food for those with an appetite for adventure. While noodles and rice dishes are mainly found in food courts and small restaurants, many hawkers offer bite size snacks at road side. From the more mainstream sausages to cold drinks to fried insects, you can find virtually anything.

Bacon Stick for 20 baht each

I noticed that many snacks choices consist of pork. There are pork sausage, bacon sticks, grilled fried pork, deep fried pork skin, roasted pork, ah, it was good for the pork lovers, maybe not exactly so great for health, however.

My favorite would be the bacon stick we had at the Chatuchak weekend market. For 20 baht (around RM2), you get mini sausages wrapped with bacon on a skewer. The union of sausage and bacon was a match made in heaven as the juice and slight saltiness from bacon compliments the texture and taste of the sausage oh so well. You have to try this if you manage to find the stall!

grilled pork strips on a ring

Grilled pork strips on bamboo string is a pretty common snack that can be found at many places. The meat is marinated and carries a pretty salty taste, while pretty good, eating too much of these will make you very thirsty.

deep fried pork skin

Another sinful snack would be this little bowls of deep fried pork skin that goes for 10 baht that we found at Chatuchak. These are very crispy and goes well with a little bit of Thai chili sauce. Now imagine having this with a cold beer watching your favorite football teams on a big LCD TV, with the air-cond full blast, and maybe a hot chick dancing on the side…

roasted pork (siu yok)

Roasted pork isn’t usually served on rice over here, you just have it as snacks to munch while walking around the weekend market. I guess we deserved it since we were getting enough exercise from walking under the searing hot April weather in Bangkok anyway, right?

colorful Popsicles

Then there’s the Popsicle stalls. The popsicles are actually made on location, usually with bottled fruit juice poured into a metal mold. A wooden stick is added as the handle. The mold is placed in a contraption consisting two parts, a top with little holes to hold the molds, and the bottom container filled with dried ice.

The seller often stirs the top part of the popsicle maker attempting to freeze the products faster. A stick costs something like 5 baht, and they were perfect for the weather.

fried mini banana (including the skin)

Other than the meat items, I also tried this curious little deep fried banana Terence bought. It was basically some species of mini banana sliced down in the middle, deep fried. While they look rather uninspiring, these things were actually very sweet and rather tasty. It is similar with our own “pisang goreng”, but sweeter and more concentrated.

Of course I enjoy every bit!

You can do a fair share of walking and eating in this city. Next up would be the various type of meals I had to sit down to eat. Stay tuned!

Last weekend we headed to Kampung Baru in KL to capture some election colors. On the side note, election is this weekend, please do vote and vote wisely. The worse thing you can do is to give up the most basic of our democratic right. I am ashamed to say that this would be the first time I go to the ballet box due to being overseas and so on, but it’s a start. Assess the candidates and parties carefully, and make your choice, every vote counts.

As it turned out, I only managed to snap something like a roll of pictures before the rain pours, but here goes:

Color Imbalance

It was also one of Kim’s first photography trips and I must say she has an eye for this thing! Check out her post on the trip.

The whole area was filled with banners, mostly of the ruling party and some of the opposition. It is sad to say that in this country, we still have to resort to putting candidates of the same race (and sometimes same sex) against each other. But hopefully change to the better is on the way.

Stare Cock

If I vote for you, will you buy me a motorbike?

Kampung Baru is one of the very few real kampungs left in the city of KL. Located just a stone’s throw away from the bustling KLCC, here you find people living a much simpler life. With roosters still roaming the streets and houses built just good enough to have a shade under the sun and rain.

Welcome to my Home

For the old folks, evening is spent chilling with friends and having a good time. No sense of urgency, no rushing for deadlines, no hunting for more gold.

Relax and Laughters

In a city with more toll ways than rivers, many folks here still rely on motorcycles and bicycles as their primary transport, getting them from A to B. Of course, there is also an LRT station just around the corner transporting them to a very different world just a single station away. It is truly a time machine more than an underground tube.

Clinging On

Kampung folks are also usually a lot friendlier. I took the opportunity to snap a picture of this chubby kid at the restaurant. I think he was confused, this is the world he lives in, we are the visitors.

The boy will grow up to inherit the country from our generation, and it is us that must make a choice to give them what they deserve.

I took the opportunity of the holiday to go down to KL and snap me some pictures. These shots were taken around Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, near the Maju Junction. The Canon 400D and Tamron SP90 were the gear used in this excursion, I was trying to see the effect of using a basically macro/portrait lens for streets photography.

anticipation

An old man anticipating the arrival of his bus as cars and bikes passes him in the reflection.

rejected

specks of gold

the spiral

In the older part of the city, you can find remnants of architecture from the bygone era. Do we still have dedicated fire escape routes in shop houses these days?